How to Trade Microsoft After Fiscal Q2 2025 Performance

There has been much talk and analysis regarding the performance of top tech companies such as Microsoft and how investments in AI could affect the bottom line. At the end of January 2025, Microsoft was down 10% from its record high of $468.35 in July 2024 and has now released its latest earnings report. Learn more about Microsoft's fiscal second-quarter 2025 performance and what analysts are forecasting for the stock.

• The Invest.MT5 account allows you to buy real stocks and shares from some of the largest stock exchanges in the world.

All trading is high risk and you can lose more than you risk on a trade. Never invest more than you can afford to lose, as some trades will lose and some trades will win. Start small to understand your own risk tolerance levels or practice on a demo account first to build your knowledge before investing.

Microsoft Fiscal Q2 2025 Performance

Here are some of the key highlights from the fiscal second-quarter 2025 earnings report from Microsoft:  

• Earnings per share: $3.23 vs $3.11 expected 
• Revenue: $69.63 billion vs $68.78 billion expected 
• Revenue up 12% year over year 
• Net income: $24.11 billion vs $21.87 billion prior year 
• Intelligent Cloud division revenue of $25.54 billion 
• $13 billion annualised revenue run rate for artificial intelligence products 

On the face of it, Microsoft beat analyst expectations for both earnings and revenue. Around 13% of its growth came from its AI products of which Microsoft does not disclose its revenue in dollar amounts. Overall, revenue from its Azure cloud offering and other cloud-related services jumped 31% higher.

However, while revenue grew 12% year over year, it represents the slowest growth since the middle of 2023. And, while 13% of its growth came from AI, analysts were expecting over 31% - a stark difference. The Azure cloud business has been dealing with execution challenges and supply shortages, a few reasons cited for its slower growth.

The company's personal computing unit which includes Windows, Xbox, Surface and Bing contributed $14.65 billion, slightly higher than analyst estimates but flat year over year. It also announced it had invested an additional $750 million into OpenAI during the last fiscal quarter.

Microsoft shares tumbled 5% in out-of-hours trading after the earnings announcement as investors focused on slower growth in the cloud business and the implications of AI models from DeepSeek, a Chinese AI lab. DeepSeek announced an open-source model that it said it had trained for $5.6 million making it far more efficient than any of the models developed by major US tech companies. The news caused a broader sell-off in technology stocks and the broader stock indices.

It's just one reason a few more analysts are moving to a hold rating on the stock.

Microsoft Stock Forecast - What do the Analysts Say?

According to 32 analysts polled by TipRanks for a Microsoft stock forecast in the past 3 months, there are currently 29 buy, 3 hold and 0 sell ratings on the stock. The highest price level for a Microsoft stock forecast is $600.00 with the lowest price target at $425.00. 

The average price target for a Microsoft stock forecast is $508.48.

An Example Trading Idea for the Microsoft Stock Price

An example trading idea for the Microsoft share price could be as follows:  

• Buy the stock on a pullback to April and August 2024 lows around $390 to allow for volatility. 
• Target just below the highest analyst price target of $600.00. 
• Keep your risk small at a maximum of 5% of your total account.   
• Time Line = 1 – 6 months  
• If you buy 10 Microsoft shares:  
• If target is reached = $2,100.00 potential profit [($600.00 - $390.00) * 10 shares].

Remember that markets go up and down and it is unlikely the share price will move up in a straight line. In fact, it may even go much further down before it rises, especially due to some of the recent lower growth and impact of cheaper AI competitors such as DeepSeek.

Be sure to exercise good risk management and always know how much you could potentially lose on a trade and the risks involved, as well as the costs.

With the Admiral Markets Invest.MT5 account you can buy and sell US stocks with a commission from $0.02 per share. This means buying 10 shares in Microsoft stock would result in a commission of $0.20 ($0.02 * 10 shares) for executing a per-side transaction.

However, there is a low minimum transaction fee of $1. So, the example trading idea above would result in a commission of just $1 overall.

How to Buy Microsoft Stock in 4 Steps  

With Admiral Markets, you can buy shares with a commission of just $0.02 per share and a low minimum commission of just $1 on US stocks. 

1. Open an account with Admiral Markets to access the dashboard.
2. Click on Trade or Invest on one of your live or demo accounts to open the web platform.
3. Search for your stock in the search window at the top.
4. Input your entry, stop-loss and take profit levels in the trading ticket.

Click on the banner below to trade Microsoft stock today ▼▼▼ 

Do You See the Microsoft Stock Price Moving Differently?   

Remember that all analytics and trading ideas are based on the personal view and experience of the author.

If you believe there is a higher chance Microsoft share price will move lower, then you can also trade short from a CFD (Contracts for Difference) trading account which Admiral Markets also provide.

The Trade.MT5 and Trade.MT4 account allows you to speculate on the price direction of stocks and shares using CFDs.

This means you can trade long and short to speculate on rising and falling stock prices.

INFORMATION ABOUT ANALYTICAL MATERIALS: 

The given data provides additional information regarding all analysis, estimates, prognosis, forecasts, market reviews, weekly outlooks or other similar assessments or information (hereinafter “Analysis”) published on the websites of Admiral Markets investment firms operating under the Admiral Markets trademark (hereinafter “Admiral Markets”) Before making any investment decisions please pay close attention to the following: 

• This is a marketing communication. The content is published for informative purposes only and is in no way to be construed as investment advice or recommendation. It has not been prepared in accordance with legal requirements designed to promote the independence of investment research, and that it is not subject to any prohibition on dealing ahead of the dissemination of investment research.
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• The Analysis is prepared by an independent analyst Jitanchandra Solanki, Freelance Contributor (hereinafter "Author") based on personal estimations.
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